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Affordable Apartments a New York Luxury

A survey released yesterday by city housing officials supplied factual backing for what many renters already know: even as the household income of average New Yorkers has fallen, it has become harder to find an affordable apartment in the city.

The survey, conducted every three years by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, found that real income -- or income adjusted for inflation -- fell across the board for New Yorkers at the same time that rents, as tracked by several indicators, continued to rise.

Shaun Donovan, the city's housing commissioner, said that the city's overall housing stock and the number of homeowners in New York are both at a record high, but acknowledged that city tenants are facing a painful spiral of rising rents and falling wages.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a statistician to know that affordability is increasingly the fundamental problem that we face," he said.

The study found that real income in New York fell by 6.3 percent from 2001 to 2004, whereas it increased by 9.8 percent from 1998 to 2001. This decrease in how much city residents were earning was accompanied by a 5.4 percent increase in the median monthly rent from 2002 to 2005, the study found.

By almost every indicator used by the study, known as the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, it has become harder in recent years to find a steal of an apartment.

For example, the median monthly gross rent in New York, including utility payments, rose to $920 in 2005 from $788 in 2002. During the same period, the median monthly contract rent, which excludes fuel and utility costs, increased to $850 from $706.

Then there was this: The study found that the number of units with a gross monthly rent of $500 to $799 fell by 16.2 percent from 2002 to 2005, while the number of units with monthly rents of $800 to $999 fell by 6.2 percent. But the number of units with gross monthly rents between $1,000 and $1,499 went up by 17 percent and those costing $1,500 or more rose by 20.6 percent, the study found.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the study was that more people are spending more of their paychecks on rent. In 2002, half of the renters in New York spent 28.6 percent of their household income on rent, the study found. In 2005, half spent 31.2 percent on rent.

In the same vein, 28.8 percent of city renters spent more than half their income on rent in 2005, the study found. In 2002, about 25.5 percent gave more than half their earnings to a landlord.

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Moreover, the rental crunch occurred during a housing boom in New York City. From 2002 to 2005, the study found, the city's housing stock increased by about 52,000 units, to 3,261,000 from 3,209,000, the largest increase since 1991.

Brad Lander, the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development and an advocate for low-income housing, said a majority of the new units, 29,000 of them, were built for sale, not rent.

"You see it all around you," Mr. Lander said. "It's all condos."

On the bright side, Mr. Donovan pointed out that a third of all New Yorkers own their homes. "It's not just that people are coming to New York City," he said. "They're coming to stay."

He also said that vacancy rates had increased -- meaning pressure is slowly being let off the market -- and that renters had rated their satisfaction with their neighborhoods at the highest levels in 27 years.

"We prefer to believe, and the signs are there, that the housing market is returning to a healthier balance," he said. "What we will see is neither significant increases in prices, but also not a substantial drop that would indicate a real crisis of confidence in New York City."

Mr. Lander said the study offered no truly surprising findings -- especially to the many people who must dig deep every first of the month for their home payments.

"This confirms what New Yorkers know," he said. "Rents are up, low-rent units are almost impossible to find, and people are struggling to pay the housing bills."